Fun in Phoenix!

Big thanks to Tim and Jen for having us over. We had a blast visiting! Michael and Ammon have never spent so much time together and they were two peas in a pod having a great time playing and running around together. Sophie was cute and even shared her blankie with Peter when he was sad. Jen did a great job throwing a pirate party for Michael. He had a big turn out and all the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves.

But the real fun came with the crazy storm we had. The rain came pounding down and the neighborhood turned into deep puddles. We sent Ammon out to start playing in it and Jen woke up Michael from his nap so that he could join in the fun. The two little ones got into the action as well. We all had a great time and then Jen broke out the popcicles and that just topped off a perfect afternoon.

Jack Pot - Friendship Park

Yesterday was Andy's day off and so we decided to do some more exploring here in Yuma. Actually, I had promised Ammon that we would go swimming. We looked up the YMCA because it was near by and, well, aren't they supposed to be cheap? They're not. It was going to be more than $20 for the family to go swimming, so we looked up the community pools. We found that there are three community pools and two spray parks. We called one of the pools to check on prices and hours only to learn that - even though we had temps above 110!!!! - they don't open until after Memorial Day. So instead of swimming we decided to try out the spray park that we hadn't been to before.

The park is called Friendship Park. It is right down the street from the station where Andy reports to work every day. It felt much safer than Carver Park - where we had gone the other day. The boys loved the spraying animals and also had a great time running over to the actual playground that was there. It was a fun outing.

I also went out and got some shorts because as careful as we need to be with money right now, I just decided that shorts in this climate is more than just a want. However, our record breaking heat has decided to subside and today our highs were in the 90's and we are expecting highs in the 80's for these next several days! YAY!!!

Tomorrow we (the boys and I) are heading to Phoenix were we will spend the night with Tim and Jen and then hang out for Michael's birthday party. We are excited for our little trip!

Oh - I also FINALLY made it to one of the ward park days. It was at Carver Park, which, when there are 20+ LDS women and their children running around, seems perfectly safe and fun. The boys and I literally spent hours there today.

Spur of the Moment

Yesterday morning I woke up and tried to keep things quiet while Andy slept. He didn't get home until 5:00 AM so he definitnely needed sleep. I noticed it was Grandpa's birthday today (the same as my nephew Michael, so I don't know why I never realized it was the same day before) and suddenly found myself daydreaming of a trip to SanDiego to visit my Grandparents. Eventually I talked myself out of it - still wanting very much to go, but also realizing that we should go to church, and make the trip with a little more planning first.

When I put Peter down for his nap I showered and got dressed for church, impressed with myself for being so "ahead" of schedule. Andy was starting to stir so I layed down next to him on the bed and we talked a little. He was debating whether or not he should keep sleeping and I was trying to encourage him to get a litte more rest - it was only 5 hours since he had gone to bed. But he continued to chit-chat for a few moments and I mentioned that it was Grandpa's birthday the next day. His reaction was hilarious. His eyes, groggy with sleep one moment, were suddenly wide-eyed. He threw off the blanket and immediately commanded, "Let's go! We're going to visit him!" I half-heartedly threw out my objections and explained why I thought it would be better to wait for another day - perhaps Tuesday - his next day off. But I agreed to call Grandma and find out what their schedule was. As I had almost guessed, they had company coming for Grandpa's birthday and would not be available on Tuesday but were open for visitors yesterday. And so we decided to go.

Grandma fixed us a great meal. She kept apologizing that it was "just" spaghetti although I kept insisting that it is an absolute FAVORITE in our family. Ammon ate and ate and ate and ate and ate somemore! He loved it; we all did. I was amazed that she was able to pull off such a great meal with no real notice!

After dinner we took the boys to the park. They were so happy to get out and play! Peter had a blast and even started going down the slides head first on his tummy. The first time it was an accident, but after that, he was so happy to repeat it.

We planned to go back to Grandma and Grandpa's house after the park, but when we got in the car we realized it was only ten minutes until the time we had planned to head home anyway. So we said our goodbyes and got back in the car. We were so sad to be leaving and realized that we still wanted to play Hand and Foot with Grandma and Grandpa and we still wanted to spend hours visiting the Greer clan in Ramona! We will definitely have to plan another trip soon - hopefully one with more time for visiting.

Andy's Day Off

Yesterday was Andy's day off and we decided to explore Yuma a little bit. We had heard of a local water park and decided to check it out. It is about 25 minutes away from where we live. To get there we actually drove the freeway into CA and then come back into AZ on surface streets. I live about 12 miles from the border, but I live East of Yuma proper. Yuma itself truly is on the CA/AZ/Mexico border.

Ammon is stir crazy since the days are already too hot to let him outside for a lot of the time, and he hasn't had a lot of interaction with other children in the past few weeks either. Andy and I were excited to let him get out and just be a kid for a little while. I was hoping that I could make it a tradition to take him to the park every week or so, but Andy and I both agreed that we don't feel safe having me and the boys go there alone. Maybe the best comparison I can make is that it felt like hanging out somewhere in Rose Park or maybe at Liberty Park in Salt Lake. Anyway, bummer about not wanting to go there without Andy, but I still think we will try to go there fairly often when he (or some other moms) can go with me. We had a great time.

Adjustments

Getting used to our new lifestyle has been a little tricky. Andy needs to learn how to sleep in since he doesn't get home until 4:30 AM. Sadly for him, he has never been big on sleeping late so by 9:30 he thinks he should get up for the day. One morning he was out of bed by 7:30. What a maniac. On the other hand, I, who have always been quite content to and capable of sleeping in, get up with the boys at 6:00 every morning. That's pretty much been the schedule since Peter was born, so you wouldn't think it would be too hard, but my nights sleep us usually over when Andy gets home since I hear him come in and he is anxious to tell me about his night while he winds down and gets ready for bed. There is usually about an hour (if that) between the time we go to bed and Peter wakes up. So Andy is working on learning to sleep in better, and I am working on getting to bed earlier at night and sleeping through Andy coming home from work.

Our Mornings

Although the day time temps have already been in the high 90's and even up close to 110 some of the days since we have been here, we typically take a few minutes to enjoy the cool morning air. I decided that as long as the mornings are still under 70 degrees, I will stay sane. (Sadly, this morning at 6:30 the temp was already about 75 so I do expect my sanity to depart with the cool breeze soon...)

Ammon enjoys riding his little big wheel up and down the patio, and Peter has fun hanging out in the truck. Ammon loves to push the truck back and forth on the strip of cement and Peter just holds on and enjoys the ride!

Settling In

After our mini-vacation, we arrived back in Yuma to really get settled into our new life. Peggy and Derrick had driven down our 2nd car and Jen came down from Phoenix with her friend and her two children so we had a houseful which was both helpful and chaotic. We had a fun time situating things between hanging out and keeping the kids happy. I'll admit - four children and six adults in a partially moved-in house can be a lot but I am glad everyone came. It was lots of fun.

Some of the highlights of Saturday were Andy and Derrick picking out, purchasing and setting up our new TV stand. Yes - I did say that they picked it out. I thought that was a slightly bold and scary prospect, but they did a great job and I am very happy with what they found. Peggy took the three Jennifer's (me, SIL Jen and her friend Jenny Horrocks) to a local quilt shop where she was able to meet in person someone who is an online longarming quilt friend.

On Sunday we went to church and had a great time meeting various people in the ward. Just to make our first day memorable, the fire alarm went off a few minutes into Sunday School and we spent much of that hour outside waiting for the fire department to give us the green light to go back in. What an adventure! It worked out ok, though, because it gave us a chance to meet some people and just mingle a little bit more than we would have if we were sitting in class.

On Sunday night Crystal - the neighbor who has been so helpful and instrumental in us being where we are, stopped by to remind us to pack Andy a lunch for work the next day and a few other useful bits of info. We really hit the jackpot being neighbors and friends with her and her family!

On Monday Andy had his first day. For the most part he was issued gear that he hadn't received yet. He said it was a long and boring other than all the cool new toys they were given. He was told he had Tuesday off and to come back ready to work on Wednesday at 6:00 PM. He was also set up to work 10 hour shifts immediately which is good financially.

Peggy and Derrick were still in town and they came over to watch the boys while I ran errands in town. First stop was to register the car. I was glad that I was with Andy when we did the other car - it helped me know exactly what to do. After that I found Sam's Club and did our first real grocery shopping to stock up the house with food.

Once I arrived home, Peggy and Derrick helped me with various other random chores. We got our internet connected and Derrick helped set up the wireless. Peggy ran to the store to get batteries and came home with a load of other things that we needed like plastic baggies and brown paper lunch bags. They were very helpful all weekend!

Andy got home just in time to turn around and take his parents to the airport. Ammon went with him for the ride. Soon after that we went over to Crystal's house for dinner. We had a great time visiting with them and getting to know them better. Her husband was a wealth of information for Andy about job stuff, and I had a fun time just having girl-talk time. She made a great mid-west meal of beans and cornbread; they have just been so wonderful to us in so many ways! I wish we could have stayed later, but our boys were getting tired and past their bedtime when we finally gave in and headed home to put them to bed.

Tuesday was our first day in Yuma alone as a family without any major move-in errands, so it was kind of nice that Andy didn't have to work. I honestly don't remember much of what we did that day - and it was annoying when our brand new internet connected decided to not work for us! Other than that, things were good. We had most of Wednesday to hang out, although Andy took a nap in the afternoon to prepare for his night shift, and the next thing we knew, it was time for Andy to head to work, and the real BP life was ready to begin!

California Adventure

On Friday we spent the entire day in California Adenture. Ammon was big enough to go on a lot of the rides, so that made it fun. We didn't think we would stay there all day but it kept us entertained. The only thing we had done in California Adventure before was the Bug's Life area, but this time we hit everything that Ammon could ride which included the river rafting ride and the Flying Over California. By the time we got in the car to head home the boys were EXHAUSTED so they quickly fell asleep and we had a nice calm ride home.

A Day in Disney!

DisneyLand was tons of fun. It was amazing to wake up in our own beds and find ourselves in DisneyLand just a few hours later. Ammon and Peter both loved the rides as did Andy and me. It was great finally letting our hair down and just having fun as a family!

Getting to Yuma

The drive between Las Vegas and Yuma was very uneventful. There is NOTHING out there. But to make it interesting the roads do curve a bit and there is a long stretch that has ups and downs making Ammon feel like he was riding a roller coaster. After breakfast in the condo, and filling up with gas on our way out of town, we were Yuma bound and made pretty good time. I think we left around 10:30 in the morning and arrived about 4:00 PM. We stopped once for lunch.

When we got to our neighborhood there was a man driving away. He turned around and ended up at my house about the same time I did. Turns out he was from the ward and, although we weren't planning on people coming by to help us until 6:00, he had just decided to drive by anyway. Robert is his name, and he and Andy were able to unload the truck and have us all ready to unpack well before the moving party was scheduled to start! It was great to have things so quickly situated.

Later that night the Bishopric stopped by and chatted for a bit. Andy had met one of the counselors brothers when he EOD'd. The brother is a BP agent and attends the ward Andy went to last time he was here.

Our first night in our new home, Ammon and Andy both spent throwing up. It was pretty miserable! Fortunately they seemed better in the morning and by mid-day they were both doing fine.

With so much unpacking already done, Wednesday was open for us to get some errands out of the way. We went in search of the truck rental place to return our moving truck. We made a few wrong turns and spent some time wandering around. We couldn't find where we were going, but we did meander past the DMV (or MVD as it is named here) which was useful since that was the next place we needed to go.

After a while I looked more closely at the map Andy had given me and realized that the map wasn't to the truck rental place at all, but to the MVD. DUH! No wonder we were struggling. We ended up calling Budget, and fortunately for us they were relatively nearby. We ditched the truck and headed off to the MVD where we registered the Elantra for two years and both got AZ driver's liscenses. The whole registration process here was a lot cheaper than in UT, so we were glad about that.

We did a little exploring around Yuma and found a place similar to Jordan Landing (only bigger, I think) called Yuma Palms. That is where we found the Sprint store and switched our numbers to AZ numbers (as well as Susie's and Mom's. That was a mess!)

By the end of the day we were ready for bed and excited to wake up the next morning to head out to DISNEYLAND!

Driving Out of Utah

The first day of our move we drove to Vegas where we were able to spend the night. Las Vegas shouldn't be too bad of a drive but somehow it dragged on forever. By the time we said all of our goodbyes and stopped at the store and came back for the grill and finally got on the road, it was already 3:30 in the afternoon.

We weren't three minutes onto the freeway before Andy mentioned that they had a strange noise on the right side of the truck. We pulled off the road at the Bangerter exit and we just had to close the door on Ammon's side a little better. No big deal, but one more delay to our already delayed trip. It seemed impossible to get out of Salt Lake County! Finally we rounded the point of the mountain and we were really on our way.

We stopped at the park in Fillmore and let the boys play for a while. We had dinner in Cedar City and we stopped in Mesquite for a quick visit with my Grandparents who were heading north to Salt Lake and eventually on to Idaho. All in all, the trip took over 9 hours JUST to get to Vegas. We were exhausted by the time we got there and so grateful to Katy and Jeremiah for hooking us up with a nice condo to spend the night in. We went to bed and tried to rest up for the second half of our drive the next day.

The Final Goodbyes

Monday came fast! It was a long day of loading the truck and getting EVERYTHING finished in terms of packing, but somehow it happened. A special thanks to Derrick and David along with David's friend who made the loading job TONS easier by helping out. My mom helped a lot with Peter so I could get things done and Peggy ran lots of errands so that we could keep our noses to the grindstone. Dad had a hard time breaking away from work, but was able to sneak out in the afternoon and then suddenly there we were ready to say goodbye. It ended up being an impromptu farewell party. I feel bad that Joey and Jeremiah were working so we knew they couldn't come by, but I wish I would have called Rebecca and Krista to see if they wanted to come over since all the other siblings were there.

Ammon had spent the night with Carolyn and Kylie and spent the whole day playing with them (HUGE help while we packed) and then Katy checked Carolyn out of school so that she could come watch Ammon drive away in the truck.

The hardest part of moving away was separating Ammon from Carolyn and Kylie and taking Peter away from Isaiah just as they are getting to an age where they really recognize and know each other. The other thing that is just really difficult is leaving my sister Katy, who has really become my best friend these last years. Of course it was hard to leave all of the siblings and cousins and parents, but Katy and I have spent a lot of time together as our husbands have been busy with their various jobs and projects. I am sad to be so far away from family!

Anyway, we said our goodbyes which confused everyone because we were saying goodbye to everyone at the house - and it was a final goodbye for most. But we were meeting Danny and David at Smith's so that they could take Ammon out for one last cup of hot chocolate while Andy and I ran into the store to get some road-trip food so people were getting confused about what was going on. Eventually we got it all figured out and said goodbye to all and then headed over to the store.

We actually ended up going back for our grill, which we almost forgot. We are glad for the time we took at the store because Derrick remembered and called us about our grill just as we were starting up the vehicles to drive away so at least we didn't have to turn around and come back from the freeway or anything.

Derrick came back and helped rearrage the truck enough to get the grill on it and then we were off and really on our way to our new life as Arizonians.

Hello and Goodbye (All In One Breath)

On Sunday we had another hectic day with church and then straight to Andy's parents house were we started cooking our meal and waiting for a Shadel family gathering. Kara and Dale hadn't seen Andy since he came home in January and it was the last time we were able to see them before pulling out Monday afternoon so it was a quick hi and bye altogether. It was great to share one last meal with them before we left though, and I am glad that Ammon had a chance to ride to cars with Will one more time.

Welcome Home!

Andy came home on Saturday April 26th. Everything since then has been a fast-paced blur of stuff so I am just going to post it piece by piece. Obviously we were really excited to have our family back together again. We picked up Andy from the airport and went straight to his parents house for lunch. From that point we went home to pack fast and furiously until dinner with my family (adults only). After that we went and packed some more.

Andy and I did take a minute to sneak out and go to the Cheesecake Factory. Unfortunately I had been sick to my stomache and the food did not agree with me at all. I spent most of Sunday swearing that I would never go back EVER again. Suddenly I am not so sad to be moving away from the Cheesecake Factory. LOL.

Despite feeling lousy, it was nice to get away and spend a few moments alone with each other after such a long separation and before such a frantic life change.

Crazy Change of Plans

It started last week when Andy's apartment went from being $300/month to $400 to $500 and then $550. The landlord Andy was working with kept changing his story and it seemed pretty fishy. We started brain storming and came up with some other options for him but in our rushed conversation, something in his voice caught my attention and I suddenly realized how miserable he was at the thought of moving to Yuma without his family. Andy and I were chatting during his lunchbreak and I think I realized that our family needed to move down to Yuma together about two minutes after he went back to work. I started contacting a couple of people I know in Yuma who I thought may be able to help me. I figured that pulling together something in less than two weeks was a longshot at best, but I should at least look into it. By the time Andy called me after work, I had promising information from both of my contacts. I asked Andy what he thought of us all moving down together and he was immediately on board with the idea.

One of the leads we had on a house was from my friend Crystal who was getting the info on the house across the street from her. It was our favorite of our options - the one we were hoping would come together for us. And it did. By 8:00 that night we had made a deal with the landlord and our move was set in motion. The picture above is not the house we will be living in, but a picture that Crystal sent me of a house like the one we will be living in.

It has been a crazy week since then. It is hard to believe that in five short days I will be driving away from my life as a Utah and into my future as an Arizona resident. There are lots of things I am looking forward to about Arizona and lots of things I will miss in Utah. What an adventure life can be.

A Day at the Zoo

On Friday Ammon, Peter and I went to the zoo with Peggy and her uncle, Graham. We met his niece and her daughter-in-law Nicki along with Nicki's three little girls. The zoo was crowded so it was slow going by the time we all got through the ticket line and even into the zoo. Ammon was adventurous and ran away on his own several times.

The first time I lost him it was just Graham, Peter and me waiting for the others at the playground. I pulled out the camera to get some picture and Graham offered to take a picture of Peter and me. (see picture posted above) In that 20 seconds it took, I lost sight of Ammon. Apparently Ammon decided that he should go find the train station. I was on my way to report him as missing when I found him wandering around trying to figure out where the train had gone to.

The second time we lost him was just after we got to the giraffe's. The day had warmed up and I had several people throwing stuff into the bottom of my stroller. The wheels were starting to rub against the side of the basket so I bent down to rearrange things. When I looked up Ammon was gone! I assumed he had gone ahead of us and into the building for the giraffes. I went in and didn't see him. Peggy followed quickly and I stayed downstairs to watch the doors while she went upstairs. I was so surprised when she came down without him. We had NO idea where he could be.

The five adults all split up looking for Ammon. Peggy was the one who actually found him. She had been calling his name and a zookeeper beckoned her over. Ammon had found his way in to where the zookeepers were taking care of the giraffe's and he was hanging out with them. It was probably a pretty fun little adventure for him, but the day was getting late enough, and I was getting tired enough of him running away that we decided to head home at that point. It was fun though, and I am glad we went.

Afternoon Outdoors

The other day Katy and Jeremiah were busy with some house building things so Mom and I had fun watching Kylie and Isaiah as well as Ammon and Peter. The afternoon weather was pretty nice so we spent a good portion of the day outside.

Ammon and Kylie had fun on the bikes while Peter and Isaiah played with the toys cars. It was a great afternoon! We love playing with cousins and are going to be sad about living far away from them.

Picnic in the Park

Earlier this week Katy noticed that we would have good (80 degree) weather for a day before a storm blew in bringing more snow. She took the initiative and organized a picnic in the park for us to enjoy the good weather before more of the white stuff frosted the air and covered the ground. It was quick because we were working around nap and school schedules, but it was fun to let the kids get out and enjoy the outdoors together.

Peter had never been on a swing before and he was absolutely delighted! I was amazed to hear his laughter - he is rarely that deeply excited about anything. He was adorable!

Ammon had a grea time too and enjoyed running around with Carolyn and Kylie. What a fun afternoon.

A Day in the Life of Ammon

Last week Katy called, and, as she often does, had a great idea for something fun to do with the kids. We took them to the Riverton Library for reading time. The stories were all themed around birds, and she read some cute ones. Between books, the librarian led them in some fun, more active rhymes and songs. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. One thing that I thought was so cute and unexpected was that both Peter and Isaiah got into the music and started dancing all on their own. It was a fun (although slightly tiring) morning.

In the afternoons Ammon goes to South Jordan Montessori. His classes are Monday - Thursday from 12:30 until 3:30. He LOVES it! He does all sorts of fun things there. Lately, he has been reading BOB books which are complete books full of three letter words that can be sounded out. It gives him a great sense of accomplishment to know that he can read an entire book all by himself. The other thing he has been particularly interested in lately has been music. They started a music class once a week and he seems to really enjoy it. When he has been angry or disapointed about things lately he has told me, "I need my music." I turn it on for him and he calms himself right down and decides to be happy again. It is really cute that a four year old has learned to self-medicate difficult emotions through music.

The picture above is Ammon and classmates waiting patiently as their parents pick them up in the cars.

Happy Birthday Peter!

I just can't believe that my baby boy is one year old now! It has been a fun year getting to know this little guy. I have felt strongly that he came into my life very specifically to get me through this year. It has been a transistional year with Andy's job changes, and Peter's calming influence and powerful spirit has helped me through a lot of the rough spots.

Peter is sweet. That is really the best way to describe him. He is mellow, mild, easy going - however you want to say it - it boils down to him just being a sweet heart.

He likes pizza, chicken, beef, cheerios and chocolate. He does not like most fruits or vegetables (very different than Ammon who did not like meat, but LOVED his peas and corn). Peter will eat cooked carrots, though, and even will chomp on an uncooked carrot every now and again.

Peter adores his big brother. They are starting to have more and more fun together. His eyes are always glowing when Ammon plays with Peter.

Peter is not walking yet, but he is an excellent crawler! He can stand up by himself really well - he just doesn't see the point in taking wobbling steps when he can jet around so quickly on his hands and knees.

The only thing he really knows how to sign is "done". He puts his hands in the air and says, "duh, duh". I really need to show him more Signing Time - I know he would catch on so quickly if I do.

Peter loves his water bottle but could care less about juice or milk. He mostly still likes to nurse and I personally don't think he eats enough regular food. We're going to have to work on that one.

I just love my precious boy and am so glad we had the chance to celebrate his little life. Thanks to all of you who came to his party!

Crazy Day!

It just seems like today has been crazy. This morning I went and bought some furniture on a killer sale at ShopKo, of all places. It was an ORDEAL! That place apparently had a lot of sales that people were interested in because it seemed like everytime I turned around someone was asking about a different sale item they were looking for. Also, when they put something on sale, I think they stock about 1 ea of that item. Every person who was looking for something was basically told that it was all out. And this was happening about four hours into the first day of the sale.

Like I said, I was there for furniture. And apparently, so were most of the other people there. Anyway, long story short, it took me a total of many phone calls last night and three trips to the store just to get someone who was able to tell me whether or not they had the pieces of furniture I wanted. I wanted 5 items - the bed, two night stands, and both dressers (not the mirror). I ended up with 4 of them, but not until after being told that they were all there, then that only 2 of the items were there, and then back to having all of them but one of the nightstands. It took me two trips with Peggy's explorer to get the boxes all home from the store. Fortunately for me David was home and able to help with the loading, transporting and unloading - including driving home with a box set on top of the explorer with nothing keeping it in place other than David's careful driving. What an adventure! I still need to see if I can track down my 5th piece, but I just didn't have a second to breathe for the rest of the day.

Lucky for me, my mom had the boys for the whole time of the furniture adventure. But, it took me a lot longer than she or I had expected. By the time I got home it was way past Peter's nap time so we got him into bed and then Ammon and worked on Peter's birthday cake for tomorrow. Ammon seemed really hyper today and wasn't the easiest to deal with while I was focused on everything BUT playing with and entertaining him.

By the time Peter woke up it was pretty much time to eat. After dinner I was ready to go to the store. I forgot to mention that the pudding I needed for the cake I was making turned out to be cook-and-serve instead of instant. Oh - and it was needed to cover the already sliced layer of bananas. Ooops. I hurried and covered the bananas with whipped cream so they wouldn't turn brown and then had to wait until later to get out to the store. So finally, after dinner I am ready to go but I can't find 1) my keys and 2) my son! Ammon had gone outside and disapeared. I honestly thought he must have gotten my keys and was waiting in the car for me. My back has been acting up again so Mom carried Peter out to the car for me so I could head out, but no keys and no Ammon. I went back inside to look for my keys - (probably not the right priority, I know) and I did find them downstairs on the table where I had left them. As I was headed back upstairs I heard the doorbell ring. I was pretty sure it was Ammon, but I was surprised that he actually was being delivered home from the neighbors because he had wondered all the way to the end of the street.

After he was sufficiently scolded and spanked and sent to his room etc etc, we finally piled into the car and headed to the store. It was there that I really started to realize that I had had it. Ammon was still hyper and I was just trying to survive. Nothing major happened at the store, it was just one of those days shopping that you wished you were anywhere else!

Once we got home I stuck them in a bath. Peter slept about 2 hours later than normal because I hade messed up his nap schedule by being gone this afternoon, and Ammon was so extra-hyper that I was hoping a bath would calm them down. I was expecting bed time to be a beast. I was pleasantly surprised, however. Both boys got out of the bath and went to bed (about 40 minutes later than normal) like angels! They have been sleeping blissfully ever since.

I, on the other hand, have been frantically trying to figure out how much pizza I need for Peter's party tomorrow. There are going to be 26 people + 4 - 2 + a possible 4 + a possible 2. So that makes 28 - 34 people. But 14 of the 34 or 12 of the 28 -30 are kids. Of the kids 4 of them are old enough to eat pizza, but are only 1 so they won't eat a ton. Anyway, how do you calculate that? I try to be conservative in my estimations and I suddenly panic that it's not nearly enough. Then I try again and am sure I am going to have half of it left over! Oh well, Andy called and helped and we figured out what to order and it's probably way too much, but it's what we're doing.

And now it's way past bed time, ShopKo is closed and I am realizing that I still only have one nightstand, that finding the other way going to be a longshot anyway, and that the sale ends tomorrow, but tomorrow I am single handedly throwing a pizza party for Peter, which is already sounding a little daunting! Aack! So I have no idea if I will get anymore chance to track it down tomorrow than I did today.

Thanks Andy!

What a nice surprise! Thanks so much for the pretty flowers. Ammon was thrilled to answer the door and see such an unexpected delivery. I have noticed them many times throughout my day and, as Ammon would say, they "make my heart happy". I love you!

I Love To See The Temple

Being a full time Mom AND Dad for the past 3 1/2 months has been a big job. I seriously LIVE for Peter's naps because that is the only reliable down time I get. Unfortunately, since the time change a few weeks ago, we have been hit and miss on our schedule. Tuesday was one of those days where nap time just never happened. And by midmorning I was seriously going out of my mind. Ammon has school at 12:30 and even though it is only two minutes away I loaded the boys into the car before noon. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but somehow the idea of Ammon and Peter both seatbelted and unable to touch me was very appealing.

I started driving, having no idea of where I was going when I started thinking about the temple. I might have been thinking of Katy's house - she has a triple temple view which is amazing! And then thinking about how I will be almost four hours from the nearest temple. I realized that while I am so close, I should take advantage and go see it. So that's where we went. Ammon was excited to see the temple and look up and learn about Moroni. We talked about what temples are for, who gets to go inside and what we do inside. I let the boys get out of the car and play on the grass for just a few minutes and before I knew it, I had a cute picture, a good experience, a much calmer demeaner, AND it was school time. Yay!

A Fun First

We were at the dinosaur museum the other day, and Peter had his first ice cream cone! What a lucky little boy - Ammon's first icecream cone was a cheap McDonald's vanilla cone. Peter had yummy strawberry icecream! As usual, Peter didn't seem any more excited than normal, but he kept a death grip on his cone and wouldn't let it leave his hands other than to slowly eat it. He loved it. Of course! Who doesn't LOVE icecream!